Martha Guilty on all 4 counts... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Munku · 03-05-2004, 01:05 PM

http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/05/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A jury found Martha Stewart guilty on all four counts against her in her obstruction of justice trial Friday and is expected to serve prison time.

Her ex-broker Peter Bacanovic was found guilty on four of the five charges he faced.

Neither defendant appeared to show any emotion when the verdict was read, though the lead prosecutor appeared to be holding back tears of joy.

Sentencing was set for June 17.

The jury deliberated for three days after a five-week trial.

The panel of eight women and four men began deliberating Wednesday on whether Stewart and her ex-broker, Peter Bacanovic, obstructed justice and lied to the government about her sale of ImClone stock in December 2001.

Stewart, 62, was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements – charges that together carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Bacanovic, 41, was convicted of making false statements, conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice – with a maximum prison term of 25 years. He was acquitted on a charge of making and using of false documents.

Both Stewart and Bacanovic left the courthouse without speaking to reporters. Eyewitnesses said Stewart's daughter Alexis was crying.

Stewart said on her Web site that she would appeal.

But the homemaker turned style setter and media executive could still do jail time.

"Unless this is somehow undone on appeal, she's a felon and she's going to prison," legal analyst Kendall Coffey said.

Prosecutors argued that Stewart sold her ImClone stock only after Bacanovic told his assistant to tip her off that ImClone founder Sam Waksal was trying to sell. Stewart and Bacanovic had told investigators they had an arrangement to sell once the stock fell to $60.

Bacanovic was broker to both Stewart and Waksal, who is serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty to securities fraud over his family's sale of ImClone shares.

Bacanovic's former assistant, Douglas Faneuil, the government's star witness in the case, testified that his boss ordered him to pass an inside tip about ImClone to Stewart.

Despite the intense publicity surrounding the trial – the most closely watched of the recent corporate fraud cases – the stock trade at its center involved a relatively small amount of money.

World's King · 03-05-2004, 01:16 PM

That dumb bitch... good.

Evil Milkman · 03-05-2004, 01:29 PM

Yeah, as I have said before: She couldn't just be satisfied with being mega rich, huh? She is a dumb ho, but gods know that there are other white collar criminals that deserve worse.

Cynthetiq · 03-05-2004, 02:21 PM

thank goodness the media zoo can start to move on.. of course we'll hear when she goes to jail/pays fine or whatever her punishment metes out to be. Then we'll hear about it years later, blah blah blah blah.

IMHO there's too many celebrity cases... says something about society. I don't know what just yet, but it says something.

kazoo · 03-05-2004, 02:22 PM

YAY!

After OJ walked, I began to wonder if justice wasn't just blindfolded, but stupid, as well.

Now the long countdown to see if she ever serves a day in the can.

rockzilla · 03-05-2004, 03:35 PM

If she had just come clean about the whole mess in the first place she'd have gotten a slap on the wrist and would be back home making brownies right now.
Now that she's a jailbird, maybe she'll market a line of Martha Stewart shanks.

Conclamo Ludus · 03-05-2004, 03:38 PM

Free MS!

ARTelevision · 03-05-2004, 04:32 PM

I always appreciate how 12 common citizens get to level the ground beneath the feet of any other citizen, no matter to what level that ground has been raised up.

BoCo · 03-05-2004, 04:32 PM

Throw her in a cell and let her serve real time.

She's a liar and a cheat and deserves the full sentence she is facing.

Karby · 03-05-2004, 04:50 PM

that's sucks for her.
i hope they convicted her because they had too much of a reason too.
and not just cuz the want to make an example outta her.
that would really suck.

rockzilla · 03-05-2004, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Karby
i hope they convicted her because they had too much of a reason too.
and not just cuz the want to make an example outta her.

She lied to the supreme court. What kind of example would they be setting if they didn't convict her?

ChrisJericho · 03-05-2004, 05:32 PM

She had it all, but got too greedy.

Holo · 03-05-2004, 05:46 PM

I can see the new colors now in the Everyday line:

Jail Cell Green
Dropped Soap Ecru
Meal Tray Silver
Cellblock Grey.

floydthebarber · 03-05-2004, 05:50 PM

Meh, she just did what anyone else would have done if told their stock was about to loose value. I'm not saying I think she didn't do anything wrong or she is innocent, just that most of us would have done the same thing. It doesn't matter how much cash you have, you still want to make and keep as much as you can.

tikki · 03-05-2004, 05:58 PM

Her next magazine...

Martha Stewart Living...In Jail.

Placemats in the mess hall, drapes on the windows. Everyone will want to go to the big house!

mystmarimatt · 03-05-2004, 06:09 PM

Yeah...I secretly was just hoping she'd be convicted... something about her just seems evil

ritzboi · 03-05-2004, 06:17 PM

Hahaha got what she deserved.. liked her show though, heh.

santafe5000 · 03-05-2004, 06:21 PM

She's guilty now, but wait for the appeals. That could take years, so she won't be cringing in the shower anytime soon. Wonder what her attorney told her after losing this round?

H12 · 03-05-2004, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Holo
I can see the new colors now in the Everyday line:

Jail Cell Green
Dropped Soap Ecru
Meal Tray Silver
Cellblock Grey.

He he he, good stuff there.

Martha got exactly what she deserved, and I'm glad to see that not all celebrities can get away with being greedy as hell.

Astrocloud · 03-05-2004, 06:29 PM

Glad-I-Ate-Her · 03-05-2004, 07:45 PM

Its a good thing.

Glad

GuttersnipeXL · 03-05-2004, 07:54 PM

If it was me or you, we'd already be in the klink.

Astrocloud · 03-05-2004, 08:14 PM

Do I have to ask "Why is this news?" Common it might be a little funny but does it honestly affect anyone here?

BTW IM Clone is doing pretty well

Irony anyone, ANYONE?

Quote:

Attempts by ImClone founder and former Chief Executive Sam Waksal and close family members to dump ImClone shares just before the company made public the FDA rejection led to Waksal's seven-year prison sentence for insider trading.

...
That was shortly before Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY - News) agreed to a $2 billion commitment to help develop and co-market Erbitux, and about three months before the bottom dropped out with the late-December FDA rejection.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/040303/healt...e_icahn_2.html

SecretMethod70 · 03-05-2004, 09:15 PM

Now, I fully admit I didn't bother to keep up on this case or anything, so maybe she's really guilty. That's besides the point I'm going to make though.

It seems to me that, while on one hand there is the "celebrities are above the law" perception, from public opinion I've seen, most celebrities are presumed guilty simply because they ARE celebrities. That's equally, if not more dangerous than the former perception IMO.

Astrocloud · 03-05-2004, 09:23 PM

Just to prove I'm all laughs

here's another laugh

http://www.worth1000.com/cache/conte...play=photoshop

HeAtHeN · 03-05-2004, 09:36 PM

Thats funny Astro...

Bitch deserved it... no if we can onlt get Dr Phil and Oprah....

ladyadmin · 03-06-2004, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Astrocloud
Do I have to ask "Why is this news?" Common it might be a little funny but does it honestly affect anyone here?

It sure doesn't affect me. I don't worry about what celebs are doing right or wrong. They are human and make mistakes just like we all do. Some more than others and some less.

Skettios · 03-06-2004, 12:48 PM

I'm awfully glad.

I hope she gets jail time. Let it be a warning to all of the others that think it's okay to engage in this sort of behavior.

Asuka{eve} · 03-06-2004, 01:15 PM

Shes 62 now + 20 years shes in a world of hurt.

Cynthetiq · 03-06-2004, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ladyadmin
It sure doesn't affect me. I don't worry about what celebs are doing right or wrong. They are human and make mistakes just like we all do. Some more than others and some less.

It does when the celebrities and high powered people feel that they are above the law and do as they please.

we are all equal under law, no matter how much money one has or what position of power has.

Xiangsu · 03-07-2004, 07:50 AM

[sarcasm]
It's always a shame when bad things happen to good people. Martha Stewart is an amazing woman and should have been treated as such. It's not fair that she is the envy of so many people, and even more unfair that these jealous ingrates have the nerve to make these incredibly false accusations upon Ms. Stewart. No matter who it happens to, I will never get used to innocent people being condemned, and I shouldn't have to.
[/sarcasm]

Just for the record I was fucking around. She probably is a bitch and is most likely guilty.

Strange Famous · 03-07-2004, 08:20 AM

I have to ask the same question as I did about Jeffery Archer and his alleged insider trading on the Anglia Television stock...

Why does someone with so much money, risk their freedom just to make some more, in such a stupid way?

Aletheia · 03-07-2004, 11:02 AM

Greed. She got greedy.

Lebell · 03-07-2004, 11:28 AM

No sympathy here.

She is greedy and arrogant.

While those are not crimes, her arrogance led her into crime, so hasta la vista, Martha.

H12 · 03-07-2004, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Xiangsu
It's always a shame when bad things happen to good people. Martha Stewart is an amazing woman and should have been treated as such. It's not fair that she is the envy of so many people, and even more unfair that these jealous ingrates have the nerve to make these incredibly false accusations upon Ms. Stewart. No matter who it happens to, I will never get used to innocent people being condemned, and I shouldn't have to.

1) Have you ever met with Martha personally? Had an in-depth conversation or two? Been to her house? No? Then don't judge her personality from a television show where she has scripts and guidelines to follow.

2) "These incredibly false accusations" must not have been so incredibly false, since the jury found her guilty of every count.

3) I agree with you that you shouldn't have to be accustomed to seeing innocent people be condemned...the problem here is that she's guilty. Do you have proof of her innocence you can share with the jury before it's too late? If not, then you should probably accept the fact that she is doomed to meet the fate she should have expected in the first place: jail-time.

Edit: Glad to see you were just messin' around. I feared for the worst there for awhile.

Cynthetiq · 03-07-2004, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by H12
1) Have you ever met with Martha personally? Had an in-depth conversation or two? Been to her house? No? Then don't judge her personality from a television show where she has scripts and guidelines to follow.

I have not, however a close friend used to run her helpdesk, and another was one of her main producers.

She was a bitch incarnate, yelling at my friend for 40 minutes because she didn't know where the space bar was, since the monitor read: press space bar to continue.

Cynthetiq · 03-07-2004, 06:32 PM

I just read this in today's NYPost.

http://nypost.com/commentary/20049.htm

Quote:

SHE LIED HER WAY TO TOP - AND BACK DOWN AGAIN

By CHRISTOPHER BYRON
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MARTHA STEWART

Email Archives
Print Reprint

March 7, 2004 -- SHE lied to her family, and she lied to her friends and business partners. She lied to the FBI and to the SEC. She lied to Congress, to the prosecutors, to the judge, and even to her own lawyers. In time, she wound up lying to the whole of America and ultimately to the entire world.
For more than 40 years, lying had been a way of life for Martha Stewart. But in the end, she lied to 12 people too many, and Friday, shortly after 3 p.m., a jury of her peers brought Martha Stewart's lifetime of lying to an end.

Now, her image lies in ruins, her career has been destroyed, and her 580-employee company faces almost certain collapse.

All this happened because Martha Stewart never learned - in anything more than an abstract and theoretical way - the difference between the truth and a lie. Instead, she learned early in life that b.s. sells, and she peddled her con-job spiel wherever it fetched the highest price.

Martha Stewart grew up the second of six children in a dysfunctional, tension-filled family of working class Polish-Americans. Her entire childhood was spent teetering on poverty's edge in a cramped row house in the Newark suburb of Nutley, N.J.

Martha's father, Eddie Kostyra, was a nasty-tempered and narcissistic boozer who couldn't hold a job, and who blamed the world for his own shortcomings. Martha's mother, also named Martha, went through her days in a cloud of sullen resentment over what her husband had turned out to be, and spent a lot of her time in a house dress and curlers at the kitchen table, smoking, drinking beer and playing cards with her girlfriends.

Martha yearned desperately for something better than this for herself.

So, in adulthood, she reinvented her past into an "I Remember Mama" fantasy powerful enough that it mesmerized the world. This fantasy became the foundation of her entire business empire, repackaged as "truth" in the pages of her books and magazines.

AS a young career woman in New York in the bull-market '60s, Martha gravitated to Wall Street, where she landed a job as a broker. The fly-by-night firm where she worked became heavily involved in a stock promotion that triggered a probe by New York State Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz.

In the course of the stock promotion, Martha put her friends into the shares. Then when the market crashed at the start of the '70s, she reassured her clients that everything would work out fine and to stay fully invested. Meanwhile, she herself secretly bailed out and quit the firm (which soon went bankrupt, anyway). Thereafter, she fled with her husband to the Connecticut suburbs.

In celebrity-filled Westport, Conn., Martha started a catering service. Her business partner, a high-fashion model named Norma Collier, subsequently claimed Martha lied to her about the business, stole clients behind her back, and ultimately drove her from the business entirely.

Martha's career in business is festooned with similar complaints. After she became a success, she bought a second home for herself in Westport. She then misled her business partner, Kmart, into thinking she didn't yet own the house, and that Kmart would get a lot of valuable publicity if the retailer gave her the money to buy it, which Kmart agreed to do. Propelled by such deceptions, Martha Stewart began to market a false version of her life as America's "perfect woman" - the hyper-competent, ultra-organized, perfectly at ease doyenne of gracious living.

THE message resonated with harried housewives who dreamed of living their own lives the same way. Some read her books and magazines as "how to" guides; others just leafed their pages as escapist entertainment. Either way, the demand for Martha's messages proved insatiable, spawning an entire media conglomerate based on celebrating the Perfect American Woman, as performed by Martha Stewart.

In the process, Martha began to mistake the gracious and super-competent woman she was pretending to be with the disorganized, short-tempered and hassled businesswoman she actually was.

When New York state tax examiners sent her a bill for back taxes in 1994, she claimed she didn't owe the money because she hadn't been in New York on the days in question.

In fact, she couldn't convincingly prove where she had been at all because her personal travel records were in chaos, and she had not even bothered to keep a day-planner of her activities. Her own testimony in the case, based on nothing more than scraps of paper and travel vouchers from limousine services, wound up being impeached by articles and photographs in her own magazines, which showed she had indeed been in New York on the very days she had insisted the opposite. A Tax Court judge pronounced her testimony in the case "non-credible" and all but called her a liar.

AFTER fighting with Martha for six years, the New York Division of Taxation won a final appeal in the State Tax Court of Appeals, which ruled against her in 2000, and hit her with a bill of $221,677.

Seeking to keep the private reality of her life hidden from public view, Martha Stewart grew increasingly challenging and defiant toward anyone who dared peek behind the curtain of her false public persona. In this way she was able to deflect more than isolated criticism of her behavior in the press.

But when federal investigators in the ImClone affair asked her on Feb. 4, 2002, for some simple and straight answers about her fishy-looking sale of even a relative handful of ImClone shares on Dec. 27, 2001, she had already convinced herself that she'd done nothing wrong because she was, after all, Martha Stewart, the perfect woman, who by definition is incapable of doing wrong.

So she simply showed the feds the other face of Janus, and told them a lie. And as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks became months, it became easier and easier for her to believe she was telling the truth - and easier and easier for the feds to see she was lying. And in that way she sealed her fate. And now she's going to prison, with her sentencing set for June 17.

And though she will probably keep insisting on her innocence until the door slams behind her, only the diminishing and teary-eyed members of her cult will be waving her goodbye, wailing at the "injustice" and the "outrage" of jailing the criminal liar who betrayed them.

Post business columnist Christopher Byron is the author of "Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia."

brianna · 03-07-2004, 07:11 PM

Martha was most likely guilty, but i don’t think that’s why she was charged or convicted. Charges were brought on her to make an example out of someone famous who people generally don’t like -- and it probably helps that she’s a successful woman. Honestly i’m somewhat surprised at the hatefulness expressed in this thread -- none of know Martha, and even if you did and your personality assessments are based on something more than conjecture being a bitch isn’t illegal. Insider trading happens everyday and while I see why the law against it exists I do not see how anyone expects it too be followed -- EVERYONE involved in the stock market is constantly looking for a “hot tip” and it is often rather difficult to see the line between that and breaking the law.

SecretMethod70 · 03-07-2004, 09:06 PM

Thanks brianna - I agree. Guilty or not, it's this kind of hatred for someone based on hearsay and fame that, really, as much as we'd like to say the opposite, makes it difficult for them to get a fair trial when people are looking to find them guilty to set an example. Perhaps she was guilty, perhaps she wasn't - and she probably was - I find it disturbing that any person would be made an "example" that celebreties are not above the law. This opens the door wide open to an innocent person being found guilty.

Either way, I think 20 years is definitely too harsh a penalty for her crimes. Prison is (ideally) meant for rehabilitation not punishment, and a couple years at most I think will get the message across just fine. Hopefully the judge will see it that way as well when sentencing.

Strange Famous · 03-08-2004, 12:11 AM

At 62, its unlikely she would get jail time isnt it? She'll probably get some sort of house curfew thing, where you have to wear the radio bracelet and report to the PO all the time. She is a criminal, but on the whole I dont think the government is in the business of locking up old ladies.

03-05-2004, 01:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
Munku Lost Location: Florida	Martha Guilty on all 4 counts... http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/05/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A jury found Martha Stewart guilty on all four counts against her in her obstruction of justice trial Friday and is expected to serve prison time. Her ex-broker Peter Bacanovic was found guilty on four of the five charges he faced. Neither defendant appeared to show any emotion when the verdict was read, though the lead prosecutor appeared to be holding back tears of joy. Sentencing was set for June 17. The jury deliberated for three days after a five-week trial. The panel of eight women and four men began deliberating Wednesday on whether Stewart and her ex-broker, Peter Bacanovic, obstructed justice and lied to the government about her sale of ImClone stock in December 2001. Stewart, 62, was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements – charges that together carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Bacanovic, 41, was convicted of making false statements, conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice – with a maximum prison term of 25 years. He was acquitted on a charge of making and using of false documents. Both Stewart and Bacanovic left the courthouse without speaking to reporters. Eyewitnesses said Stewart's daughter Alexis was crying. Stewart said on her Web site that she would appeal. But the homemaker turned style setter and media executive could still do jail time. "Unless this is somehow undone on appeal, she's a felon and she's going to prison," legal analyst Kendall Coffey said. Prosecutors argued that Stewart sold her ImClone stock only after Bacanovic told his assistant to tip her off that ImClone founder Sam Waksal was trying to sell. Stewart and Bacanovic had told investigators they had an arrangement to sell once the stock fell to $60. Bacanovic was broker to both Stewart and Waksal, who is serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty to securities fraud over his family's sale of ImClone shares. Bacanovic's former assistant, Douglas Faneuil, the government's star witness in the case, testified that his boss ordered him to pass an inside tip about ImClone to Stewart. Despite the intense publicity surrounding the trial – the most closely watched of the recent corporate fraud cases – the stock trade at its center involved a relatively small amount of money.

03-05-2004, 01:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
World's King Here Location: Denver City Denver	That dumb bitch... good. __________________ heavy is the head that wears the crown

03-05-2004, 02:21 PM	#4 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	thank goodness the media zoo can start to move on.. of course we'll hear when she goes to jail/pays fine or whatever her punishment metes out to be. Then we'll hear about it years later, blah blah blah blah. IMHO there's too many celebrity cases... says something about society. I don't know what just yet, but it says something. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

03-05-2004, 02:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
kazoo Psycho Location: Where the night things are	YAY! After OJ walked, I began to wonder if justice wasn't just blindfolded, but stupid, as well. Now the long countdown to see if she ever serves a day in the can. __________________ There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity -Big Daddy

03-05-2004, 03:38 PM	#7 (permalink)
Conclamo Ludus Modern Man Location: West Michigan	Free MS! __________________ Lord, have mercy on my wicked soul I wouldn't mistreat you baby, for my weight in gold. -Son House, Death Letter Blues

03-05-2004, 01:29 PM	#3 (permalink)
Evil Milkman Addict Location: Illinois	Yeah, as I have said before: She couldn't just be satisfied with being mega rich, huh? She is a dumb ho, but gods know that there are other white collar criminals that deserve worse.

03-05-2004, 03:35 PM	#6 (permalink)
rockzilla Junkie Location: The Kitchen	If she had just come clean about the whole mess in the first place she'd have gotten a slap on the wrist and would be back home making brownies right now. Now that she's a jailbird, maybe she'll market a line of Martha Stewart shanks.

03-05-2004, 04:32 PM	#8 (permalink)
ARTelevision I change Location: USA	I always appreciate how 12 common citizens get to level the ground beneath the feet of any other citizen, no matter to what level that ground has been raised up. __________________ create evolution

03-05-2004, 04:32 PM	#9 (permalink)
BoCo Fear the bunny Location: Hanging off the tip of the Right Wing	Throw her in a cell and let her serve real time. She's a liar and a cheat and deserves the full sentence she is facing. __________________ Activism is a way for useless people to feel important.

03-05-2004, 04:50 PM	#10 (permalink)
Karby Psycho Location: somewhere	that's sucks for her. i hope they convicted her because they had too much of a reason too. and not just cuz the want to make an example outta her. that would really suck. __________________ ~my karma ran over my dogma.~

03-05-2004, 05:32 PM	#12 (permalink)
ChrisJericho eat more fruit Location: Seattle	She had it all, but got too greedy. __________________ "A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows us that faith proves nothing." - Friedrich Nietzsche

03-05-2004, 05:46 PM	#13 (permalink)
Holo A Real American	I can see the new colors now in the Everyday line: Jail Cell Green Dropped Soap Ecru Meal Tray Silver Cellblock Grey. __________________ I happen to like the words "fuck", "cock", "pussy", "tits", "cunt", "twat", "shit" and even "bitch". As long as I am not using them to describe you, don't go telling me whether or not I can/should use them...that is, if you want me to continue refraining from using them to describe you. ~Prince

03-05-2004, 05:50 PM	#14 (permalink)
floydthebarber Insane Location: ?	Meh, she just did what anyone else would have done if told their stock was about to loose value. I'm not saying I think she didn't do anything wrong or she is innocent, just that most of us would have done the same thing. It doesn't matter how much cash you have, you still want to make and keep as much as you can. __________________ wish you were here

03-05-2004, 05:58 PM	#15 (permalink)
tikki Justified Location: West Lafayette, IN	Her next magazine... Martha Stewart Living...In Jail. Placemats in the mess hall, drapes on the windows. Everyone will want to go to the big house! __________________ Take notice. Take interest. Take me with you.

03-05-2004, 06:09 PM	#16 (permalink)
mystmarimatt Omnipotent Ruler Of The Tiny Universe In My Mind Location: Oreegawn	Yeah...I secretly was just hoping she'd be convicted... something about her just seems evil __________________ Words of Wisdom: If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane.

03-05-2004, 06:29 PM	#20 (permalink)
Astrocloud Apocalypse Nerd

03-05-2004, 06:17 PM	#17 (permalink)
ritzboi Upright	Hahaha got what she deserved.. liked her show though, heh.

03-05-2004, 06:21 PM	#18 (permalink)
santafe5000 EVIL! Location: Southwest of nowhere	She's guilty now, but wait for the appeals. That could take years, so she won't be cringing in the shower anytime soon. Wonder what her attorney told her after losing this round? __________________ When all else fails, QUIT.

03-05-2004, 07:45 PM	#21 (permalink)
Glad-I-Ate-Her Junkie Location: 1 mile from Ground Zero	Its a good thing. Glad __________________ I'm "Glad I Ate Her" because the payback was worth it!!

03-05-2004, 07:54 PM	#22 (permalink)
GuttersnipeXL Giggity Giggity!! Location: N'York	If it was me or you, we'd already be in the klink. __________________ When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST

03-05-2004, 09:15 PM	#24 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	Now, I fully admit I didn't bother to keep up on this case or anything, so maybe she's really guilty. That's besides the point I'm going to make though. It seems to me that, while on one hand there is the "celebrities are above the law" perception, from public opinion I've seen, most celebrities are presumed guilty simply because they ARE celebrities. That's equally, if not more dangerous than the former perception IMO. __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

03-05-2004, 09:23 PM	#25 (permalink)
Astrocloud Apocalypse Nerd	Just to prove I'm all laughs here's another laugh http://www.worth1000.com/cache/conte...play=photoshop

03-06-2004, 12:48 PM	#28 (permalink)
Skettios Condition: Stable and Improving Location: Finger on the little red button.	I'm awfully glad. I hope she gets jail time. Let it be a warning to all of the others that think it's okay to engage in this sort of behavior. __________________ Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. Frederich Nietzsche

03-06-2004, 01:15 PM	#29 (permalink)
Asuka{eve} Addict Location: Oh God, the rain!	Shes 62 now + 20 years shes in a world of hurt.

03-07-2004, 07:50 AM	#31 (permalink)
Xiangsu Addict Location: Illinois	[sarcasm] It's always a shame when bad things happen to good people. Martha Stewart is an amazing woman and should have been treated as such. It's not fair that she is the envy of so many people, and even more unfair that these jealous ingrates have the nerve to make these incredibly false accusations upon Ms. Stewart. No matter who it happens to, I will never get used to innocent people being condemned, and I shouldn't have to. [/sarcasm] Just for the record I was fucking around. She probably is a bitch and is most likely guilty. Last edited by Xiangsu; 03-07-2004 at 06:38 PM..

03-07-2004, 08:20 AM	#32 (permalink)
Strange Famous follower of the child's crusade?	I have to ask the same question as I did about Jeffery Archer and his alleged insider trading on the Anglia Television stock... Why does someone with so much money, risk their freedom just to make some more, in such a stupid way? __________________ "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." The Gospel of Thomas

03-07-2004, 11:02 AM	#33 (permalink)
Aletheia Psycho	Greed. She got greedy.

03-07-2004, 11:28 AM	#34 (permalink)
Lebell Cracking the Whip Location: Sexymama's arms...	No sympathy here. She is greedy and arrogant. While those are not crimes, her arrogance led her into crime, so hasta la vista, Martha. __________________ "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU! Please Donate!

03-07-2004, 07:11 PM	#38 (permalink)
brianna Addict Location: nyc	Martha was most likely guilty, but i don’t think that’s why she was charged or convicted. Charges were brought on her to make an example out of someone famous who people generally don’t like -- and it probably helps that she’s a successful woman. Honestly i’m somewhat surprised at the hatefulness expressed in this thread -- none of know Martha, and even if you did and your personality assessments are based on something more than conjecture being a bitch isn’t illegal. Insider trading happens everyday and while I see why the law against it exists I do not see how anyone expects it too be followed -- EVERYONE involved in the stock market is constantly looking for a “hot tip” and it is often rather difficult to see the line between that and breaking the law.

03-07-2004, 09:06 PM	#39 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	Thanks brianna - I agree. Guilty or not, it's this kind of hatred for someone based on hearsay and fame that, really, as much as we'd like to say the opposite, makes it difficult for them to get a fair trial when people are looking to find them guilty to set an example. Perhaps she was guilty, perhaps she wasn't - and she probably was - I find it disturbing that any person would be made an "example" that celebreties are not above the law. This opens the door wide open to an innocent person being found guilty. Either way, I think 20 years is definitely too harsh a penalty for her crimes. Prison is (ideally) meant for rehabilitation not punishment, and a couple years at most I think will get the message across just fine. Hopefully the judge will see it that way as well when sentencing. __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

03-08-2004, 12:11 AM	#40 (permalink)
Strange Famous follower of the child's crusade?	At 62, its unlikely she would get jail time isnt it? She'll probably get some sort of house curfew thing, where you have to wear the radio bracelet and report to the PO all the time. She is a criminal, but on the whole I dont think the government is in the business of locking up old ladies. __________________ "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." The Gospel of Thomas